Reports of gun, medical emergency led to lockdown, shelter-in-place at Kennedy High  

Thursday’s safety incidents highlight wider security issues at school, PTA leader says

January 24, 2025 10:28 p.m. | Updated: January 27, 2025 1:31 p.m.

Editor’s note: This story, originally published Jan. 24, 2025, at 10:28 p.m., was updated Jan. 27, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. to include information from an MCPS spokesperson.

A lockdown after reports of a student with a gun and a shelter-in-place due to a medical emergency Thursday at John F. Kennedy High School are highlighting ongoing safety issues in the Silver Spring school, according to PTA President Ricky Ribeiro.  

Principal Vickie Adamson sent a community letter sent to the Kennedy High community Thursday, saying students notified security staff at the end of fifth period that “a student may be in the possession of a gun.” According to the school’s bell schedule, fifth period ends at 12:48 p.m. School staff called 911, and the school went into a lockdown at 1:01 p.m., according to the letter.  

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According to police radio transmissions, Adamson called 911 at 12:56 p.m. after several students reported that they saw a student with a gun in his waistband.  

Montgomery County police conducted an investigation involving a search of the school, Adamson said in the letter. Officers did not find a weapon and determined there was no active threat on campus. The school transferred from a lockdown to a shelter-in-place at 2:45 p.m., which allowed the school “to work through [its] delayed dismissal process,” according to Adamson’s letter. All students were dismissed by 5 p.m. 

Ribeiro told Bethesda Today on Friday night there are concerns among the Kennedy community that a student may have disposed of or hidden a gun before police arrived. 

“It was very terrifying because my son was in the school and I was waiting at home and I didn’t know when he would be released,” Ribeiro said, referring to the lockdown. “He came home … he just felt like the school was a horrible place.”  

Adamson’s letter also said that earlier in the day, a shelter-in-place occurred due to a student having a “medical emergency,” which was unrelated to the lockdown. The shelter-in-place allowed Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) crews to provide medical support and transport the student to a hospital. 

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According to police radio transmissions, a suicide at Kennedy High was reported at roughly 11:15 a.m. Ribeiro said the incident was an attempted suicide; the student survived and was transported to a local hospital. 

In a Saturday email to Bethesda Today, MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram said the lockdown was issued within 13 minutes and “all established procedures were followed, and swift action was taken to ensure the safety of everyone in the school.” Cram also said student privacy laws prohibit MCPS from sharing student information concerning the shelter in place earlier in the day, but that medical professionals determine the specifics of what happened, not school staff.

Montgomery County police did not respond to Bethesda Today’s request for comment Friday night. 

While the incidents are concerning, Ribeiro said they are symptoms of a wider issue. 

“These incidents are the culmination of what I have been complaining and advocating about for years,” Ribeiro said. “[There] has been a security problem at the school.”  

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Ribeiro said he wanted additional safety measures at Kennedy High starting Monday, and that the school environment needed “to be stabilized.” The PTA president also said he wanted Marcus Jones, the former county police chief who now heads the MCPS Department of Security and Compliance, and MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor to be “all hands on deck.”  

The school was “business as usual” on Friday, Ribeiro said.  

“The school system has known for a long time that Kennedy needs an incredible amount of support,” Ribeiro said of the school with a majority Hispanic student population and where 70% of students qualified for free and reduced-price meals, a measure of poverty, in the 2022-2023 school year according to MCPS. “It is a student population that obviously has high needs … it’s been, unfortunately, in a neglected state for some time.”  

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